Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded by DZ Bank to Buy Rating

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) was upgraded by stock analysts at DZ Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Finviz reports.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.19 and its 200 day moving average is $55.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,297,905,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.